A Landmark advance

Sunday

Nov 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Here’s some great news for Rhode Island: Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket is looking toward the end of its 5½ year struggle to overcome bankruptcy. The state has approved its sale to Prime Healthcare...

Here’s some great news for Rhode Island: Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket is looking toward the end of its 5½ year struggle to overcome bankruptcy. The state has approved its sale to Prime Healthcare Services, a for-profit chain of 23 hospitals based in California. People in northern Rhode Island who depend on the care Landmark provides, as well as the hospital’s 1,100 employees, are surely breathing a sigh of relief.

The last hurdles were approval by state Health Director Michael Fine and Atty. Gen. Peter Kilmartin. Landmark officials said they would seek a Nov. 30 closing, or a date no later than Dec. 31.

Landmark President and CEO Rick Charest duly thanked the hospital’s employees, “whose hard work and patience helped us persevere through the daunting challenges of the past five years.”

There were some qualms. Prime faces criminal and civil investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of over-billing. But as Mr. Kilmartin noted, it has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing. Among the conditions Mr. Kilmartin placed on his approval of the sale is a requirement that Prime notify him of any actions taken by the government or final resolution of the case. Mr. Fine, meanwhile, required Prime to adopt a program reducing unnecessary hospital admissions and readmissions, one of the complaints made about Prime.

But those conditions have not scared off the buyer.

In a statement, Luis Leon, Prime’s president of hospital operations, thanked state officials for their thorough review of the application. “Now that the regulatory process has concluded, we look forward to delivering high-quality hospital care to the residents of the greater Woonsocket community and welcoming Landmark to Prime Healthcare Services hospital network,” he said.

Prime, which employs more than 20,000 people, wants to turn around Landmark with a well-tested formula: investing in new equipment and in the recruiting of doctors; increasing the number of patients while reducing the number of days they spend in the hospital; reducing purchasing costs through its national outreach; and winning higher reimbursements from insurance companies. Prime wants to invest more than $60 million in Landmark over the next five years, and has provided the hospital a $3 million emergency line of credit.

Some questions surrounded its operations in California, and a Rhode Island Health Department review of eight Prime hospitals found patient-satisfaction ratings were below California and national averages. On the other hand, Truven Health Analytics rated the company one of America’s 15 top health systems, and 11 Prime hospitals were among 729 nationwide to receive a grade of A from the Leapfrog Group.

Landmark’s long ordeal has raised questions about whether a five-year struggle under a costly, court-appointed “special master” served the taxpayers all that well. But it was important to save this public resource and economic engine for financially strapped Woonsocket. Eventually, as a for-profit institution, it could be paying much-needed property taxes to the city.

We look forward to the closing of the purchase and a fresh start for a key Rhode Island institution.